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Activity Overview

Students will use M&M's to model a decay equation - exponential equations.

Before the Activity

Students should have access to either the TI-83 Plus or TI-84 Plus family of calculators.

During the Activity

Give each group of students a small amount (about 50) M&M's in a cup. Students will fill in the lab sheet. Students will login to TI-Navigator™ and put the data in L1 and L2.
The teacher will collect the list from the student's calculators and compile the list to make a class set of data. The class data is sent back to the students using the Navigator system and students finish the lab sheet. The teacher plots the data in activity center and students should submit the equation of best fit. The class will be able to see each groups equation appear on the data set.